Okta Gets Ready to Scale, Adds Kara Wilson as CMO

By Jim Lundy

Fresh off a new funding round of over $25 Million, Cloud Identity Management provider Okta looks like it is getting ready to catch the transition of enterprises to Cloud Apps by offering an easy to implement Cloud Identity Service. The more interesting move that caught our eye was the recent hiring of Silicon Valley Marketing veteran Kara Wilson as their new CMO. This Blog Post talks about the rise of Cloud Identity and the role that Okta is playing there.

Kara Wilson, CMO of Okta.

Okta and their new CMO Kara Wilson

First, on the hiring of Kara Wilson, it took us by surprise, but this represents a serious move by Okta’s founders. Kara is a veteran of Peoplesoft, Cisco and SuccessFactors (SAP) and now that she is there, we expect to see a big surge in the marketing efforts put forth by Okta. One of the challenges outside of the data center is educating business users on the importance of Identity Management and simplifying the story will be one of Kara’s first tasks.

Kara Wilson has a ready and willing partner audience, since almost every startup or established Silicon Valley technology provider is now realizing that they need to do more when it comes to Identity and access control. In our travels in recent weeks, one of the number one priorities that we have come across is the need for better Cloud Identity Management. Okta couldn’t have better timing.

Okta and the market for Cloud Identity Heat up

Our take is that Okta gives enterprises portal like control for users that are both inside and outside the enterprise. For people that have deployed Access and Identity solutions, they know this is no easy feat. Of course, lots of people want to solve this problem, but many also want you to pay dearly for access to it. Salesforce is making noise and lots of other players are pushing their capabilities, including McAfee, IBM, Symplified, and others.

With its new cash and its new CMO Kara Wilson, we expect to see more from Okta going forward and as we get ready to launch some new research, including our predictions for 2013, Cloud Identity Management jumps to the front as a key part of any Cloud Apps Strategy. Enterprises need to investigate their providers carefully, since many need a solution like the one that Okta and others offer.

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